What on earth?

Except for this one, all the newer photos are still on my camera, which is upstairs and I'm too tired to go get it. So here's a 'contest' for you: I'll send a pack of fat quarters to the first person who correctly guesses what this is a photo of. Be sure to include your e-mail address so I can contact you for your snail mail address. Send to me at lento@chorus.net.

I've been baking cookies 'around' several repairman visits to fix the oven. It's been an eye-opener: No wonder our landfills are overflowing! The stove is only 15 years old, but the manufacturer no longer makes replacement thermostats. DH called every dealer within a hundred miles and finally found one that had it in 'old inventory.' Instead of $1500 for a new stove, we spent $240 and it's good as new.

Today I potted some amaryllis bulbs for post-Christmas bloom; once the tree and decorations are down, the house feels kind of bare, and that's when we need a reminder that things do still flower. Even though it's been ten days since our storm, the snow is still sticking to the north sides of the trees. It's really beautiful -- it outlines their interesting shapes.

Now I need to get a few more rounds of knitting done on an under-the-wire Christmas gift.

Gratitudes:

such good friends

cuddly kitties

nice dinner out with DH

Baking & Tea

Today I baked up some of the zillion zucchini into bread, along with the classic French boule, and made Joe Carson's Ginger Cookies and Dixie Curkeet's Refrigerator Cookies. I took the cookies to Obama headquarters for the hardworking volunteers. The place was buzzing like a hive.

Tonight I met Carla and got The Quilt From Hell which she had quilted for me. It looks really nice! I may have to change its name. Even Skip likes it, and wants to use it on our bed. It is huge! I'll get a photo ASAP and post it -- of course, it's not bound yet, and won't be until I get time. It is a long, long way 'round that thing.

I finished reading Three Cups of Tea last night. It's a gripping read and a galvanizing story. I know what I want from my family this Christmas -- a year's salary for a teacher in one of Mortenson's schools -- $356. A dollar a day. To educate girls; he also builds women's vocational centers, brings in fresh drinking water, and other humanitarian deeds, with the unintended consequence eliminating the motivations behind terrorism. Why be the world's worst nightmare when you can be the world's best friend?